John Day River Trip, 1st day on the water. As usual there’s music if you’re into that.
The 70 mile popular section of the John Day river between Clarno and Cottonwood cuts through a deep desert canyon. To limit river traffic, the BLM has instituted a permit system which I am very supportive of. The only potential downside of this is less last-minute freedom to select for desirable flows. I’ll talk more about that in the next post when we get to the rapids.
A good strategy for getting on the river is to either camp nearby and launch early and get through the major rapids on the first day, or to arrive late and camp above the first major rapid, which is what we did. Midday launches can be brutally hot and can be frustrated by traffic jams of rafts at the ramp.
As is evident by the windmills this is a very windy area which is just one more reason I love the nesting canoes. They fit snugly together and nestle like an aerodynamic hat on top of our beater Honda Fit. Not only does this reduce the unnerving sensation that the roof rack is about to be ripped off your car but it saves on gas mileage as well!
For this trip we decided to run catamaran style, which is what you see me setting up here. The downside to this is that the two canoes aren’t as efficient and catch more wind than a large tandem. The upside is that it creates a super stable platform for running rapids. It also just makes a really nice social experience sitting beside someone as opposed to talking to their back.
As always anything you don’t want to lose on the water needs to be strapped down, and the frame part of skin on the frame is always great for this.
For our first night we camped on a small island of willows and plum sized river rocks. I have an abiding hatred for dust and sand so these sorts of campsites are my favorite. The thickness of my Exped Synmat XP7 (The best camping mat ever created) floats right over the bumps, and the endless supply of pebbles makes hunting for agates an interesting evening activity.
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